0100 Virtual Europe

Ralph Guenther, Partner (joined 2011, 22 years of private markets experience) Ralph is a Partner and represents Pantheon’s client relationship management and business development for the DACH and CEE markets and will also source deals for Pantheon’s Secondaries team. Ralph is responsible for Pantheon’s distribution relationship in Germany and Austria. Prior to Pantheon, Ralph served as a Managing Director with bmp AG in Germany, where he established a fund of funds business in 2005. Prior to that he served as a MD in the German Venture Capital markets from 1998 to 2005 where he was responsible for a number of investments, trade sales and IPOs. Ralph started his career in IT consulting and software development. He has a degree in economics from FU Berlin. Ralph is based in Berlin.

Elena Mariotti is a Managing Director with the Portfolio Operations Group, where she is involved in evolving sustainability initiatives that deliver cost effective quantitative and qualitative results across our portfolio companies. Prior to Blackstone, Ms. Mariotti held leadership roles in management consulting at Accenture and IBM Business Services, where she sold and delivered operational and maintenance excellence and energy and safety performance improvement programs for industrial clients across North and South America, Continental Europe, and the UK. Prior to that, Ms. Mariotti worked as an engineer in technical and hands-on operational roles on-site at multiple plants. Ms. Mariotti also worked at DNV GL as due diligence advisor for the buy side. Ms. Mariotti was elected to the board and other leadership roles at the World Energy Council, Energy Institute and other organizations, where she provided strategic advice. Ms. Mariotti is a Chartered Energy Engineer. She has a 1st class Bachelor in Civil & Environmental Engineering with specialization in Sustainability and Safety Management System as well as a Master of Engineering cum laude, with a major in Solar Technology from La Sapienza University in Rome. She has a Master of Engineering cum laude, with a major in Operational & Business Risk Management from ENI University in Bologna and an Executive MBA, with distinction, from the University of Oxford Said Business School, where she was the 2017 30% Club Scholar.

Annemarie Dalka is an Investment Director at PFR Ventures where she is responsible for the Private Equity funds investments with a focus on regional investments. She has been building this program since 2018 and looks after investment strategies including buyout, growth, mezzanine and private credit. Annemarie holds numerous LPAC memberships alongside the fund managers from the PFR Ventures' portfolio, as well as serving on the ILPA's Membership & Events Committee. Prior to joining Polish Development Fund Group, she spent six years at BNP Paribas in London - in both the Asset Management and Investment Banking arms. Annemarie holds a masters degree in Strategic Management from Kozminski University in Poland.

Ralph Aerni is a Managing Director at Hamilton Lane and Head of Business Development Europe, based in the firm’s Frankfurt and Zug offices. Prior to joining Hamilton Lane in 2021, Ralph served on investment committees and boards of institutional investors and as Head of Business Development with a Swiss asset manager. Before that, Ralph was a co-owner and the Chief Investment Officer of SCM AG, a private markets investment firm, from 2003 until the trade sale to Mercer in 2015. At Mercer Private Markets, Ralph served as Chairman of the Investment Committee and global Co-Chief Investment Officer. Ralph started his career in corporate banking at UBS in 1989. Ralph received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich, Switzerland.

Cécile Mayer-Lévi joined Tikehau Capital in 2013 as Head of Private Debt activity. Previously, she worked at Ardian (previously AXA Private Equity) where she notably broadened the investment scope to include unitranche debt, with a strong focus on forming partnerships. She began her career in 1988 at Merrill Lynch (Corporate Finance and M&A) in Paris and New York. In 1991, she joined Elig, a pioneer private equity fund in France. In 2001, she moved towards mezzanine debt investments, being appointed CIO at Omnes (formerly CAPE - Mezzanis). Education: HEC Paris.

Mr. Klemme has more than 21 years of private equity investment experience. He reviews investment opportunities with specific emphasis on analysis and due diligence for prospective investments. Mr. Klemme also serves on several partnership advisory boards. Mr. Klemme manages Abbott Capital (Europe), Ltd, Abbott’s subsidiary which is authorized and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority and located in London. Mr. Klemme worked for Bethmann Bank AG as Director in its Private Equity Solutions group. Prior to working at Bethmann Bank, he worked at Credit Suisse as Vice President, also in its Private Equity Solutions group. Mr. Klemme received his M.B.A from ESCP Europe and his Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Georg-August University Goettingen.

Simon joined Octopus Ventures in 2012 and sits within the Deep Tech team, focusing on AI and machine learning, advanced materials, semiconductors and Quantum Computing. He sits on the boards of several portfolio companies including Phoelex, Orbex, Dogtooth Technologies and Elvie and previously sat on the board at WaveOptics (acquired by Snap). He also looks after the origination strategy at Octopus Ventures. Simon’s academic background is in Physics, Chemistry and Materials culminating in a PhD in organic electronics from Imperial College London. When not at work, Simon is a father of three boys (and being one of three boys, he knows how bad things are going to get!); in his minimal spare time he enjoys playing piano and guitar, learning new things (currently Mandarin) and being outdoors.

Mr. van Eesteren is a member of WPM’s Management Committee and Board Member of Wilshire Associates Incorporated. He serves on WPM’s global Investment Committee and is co-responsible for the private markets activities in Europe. He has 23 years of investment experience. Prior to joining WPM in 2001, he worked in investment banking, most recently as Vice President with ING Barings. Mr. van Eesteren was also previously with NationsBank and Bank of America in London. Mr. van Eesteren received an MSc degree in Business Administration from Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Hejoined Wilshire in 2001.

Julia is the Founding and Managing Partner of Vespucci Partners, a Hungary based VC fund. Vespucci Partners is a sector-agnostic Central Eastern European Venture Capital firm investing in early stage, innovative, deeptech startups. The aim of Vespucci is to bridge the CEE region with the US startup ecosystem. As such, they build hybrid startups with a presence in both locations. Besides providing capital, they support startups with an extensive network including later-stage investors and business development partners. Before founding Vespucci, Julia gained experience both on the investor and the startup side of the table. She used to work at Group11 VC in California, where they invested into Isralei based startups and helped them scale towards the US market. From that portfolio 3 startups are now unicorns. Then she became a co-founder of a Hungarian IoT startup. Vespucci Partners currently has 9 portfolio startups and is actively looking for new investments.

Kate M. Carlson, CFA, is a Managing Director with Franklin Park, where she is responsible for the analysis and evaluation of private equity investment opportunities, client relationship management, and conducting industry research. Prior to joining Franklin Park in 2007, Kate was with GMAC Mortgage and Standard and Poor’s Corporate Value Consulting, formerly a U.S. PricewaterhouseCoopers business. Kate is a CFA Charterholder and a member of the CFA Institute. She received a B.S. in Finance with honors from Villanova University.

Bertie is a managing director in Corporate Broking and Equity Capital Markets in the UK and EMEA IBD head of ESG. He joined Goldman Sachs as a managing director in 2017. Prior to joining the firm, Bertie was a managing director at Barclays, where he worked for nearly eight years in the Corporate Broking department of the Investment Banking Division. Before that, he worked for two years at Citi and began his career in Corporate Broking at Hoare Govett in 1999. Bertie earned a BA in Financial and Business Economics from the University of Newcastle in 1999.

Mina Pacheco Nazemi is a Co-Head of the Funds & Co-Investments team and serves on both the investment committee and valuation committee. She is also responsible for originating, underwriting and monitoring primary fund, direct/co-investments, and secondary fund opportunities for private equity and real assets. Mina has worked in the industry since 1998 with experience as a General Partner and Limited Partner investor in private markets and focused on underwriting direct/co-investment opportunities. Prior to joining the firm in 2017, Mina held several leadership and investment positions including Co-Founder and Partner at Aldea Capital Partners and Partner and Investment Committee Member at GCM Grosvenor Customized Fund Investment Group (formerly Credit Suisse CFIG). She is an alumna of Sponsors for Education Opportunity (SEO) and Robert Toigo Foundation. She also is a board member of the Pan American Development Fund and serves on the investment committee for the City of Hope. Additionally, Mina is a current Finance Fellow for The Aspen Institute. Mina holds a Bachelor of Arts with honors in Economics and Political Science from Stanford University and her Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Alex is an Associate in StepStone’s European Private Equity team and is responsible for investments into funds, secondaries and co-investments. At StepStone, Alex focuses on the UK market and Small and Mid Cap TMT-focused GPs. Prior to joining StepStone, Alex was a TMT Investment Banking Analyst at Canaccord Genuity. Alex received a BSc in Economics – First Class Honours from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Mark is a Managing Director and Head of European Primaries. He has over 30 years of experience evaluating, selecting and monitoring private equity fund investments and sits on several private equity fund advisory boards. He has been closely involved in the design and implementation of the British Venture Capital Association’s annual performance measurement survey since the pilot study in the early 1990s. Mark holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Birmingham.

Mark Corbidge, Managing Director, joined Sun European in 2019. Mark leads the firm’s European investment strategies from the London office. Mark has over 20 years of experience in the financial sector, having transacted in business services, industrials, TMT and consumer across Europe. Prior to joining Sun European, Mark served as a Partner at TPG Capital where he was responsible for the industrials group in Europe. Previously Mr. Corbidge was Senior Principal for Direct Private Equity at CPPIB, and Co-Head of Private Equity at Doughty-Hanson. Mark is a volunteer member of the Finance Committee at The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and has been an active fundraiser for the charity over the past 20 years. Mark speaks French and German fluently as well as intermediate Dutch and Italian. Mark was awarded his Bachelor of Arts (BA) (Hons) from Middlesex University and from Groupe ESC Reims, France. Mark is a driven dealmaker who enjoys a challenge.

Nicolas Réquillart-Jeanson has founded & manage Siparex’s operating team in 2018. As Chief Digital Officer, Nicolas assists portfolio company CEO defining and implementing their transformation plans. He also works with the investment teams to assess the digital maturity of the companies during the deal flow. With a 100% digital background of more than 16 years, Nicolas has gained his expertise in large specialized distribution groups (BtoB/BtoC), in consulting firms as well as in launching business units and start-ups. He is a graduate from the University of Law and frome the business scool of Paris. Nicolas is also the cofounder of the French Operating Partner Club within France Invest, the French Association of Investors

Natalia is a Managing Director at P Capital Partners, where she focusses on originating Deal Opportunities across Northern Europe with a particular focus on the DACH region. Prior to P Capital Partners, Natalia was a Managing Director at CVC Credit Partners, where she was part of the direct lending team. Previously, Natalia worked across Private Equity, Private Debt and Special Situations at ESO Capital and Cerberus Capital Management. Natalia started her career in Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs and is a graduate of European Business School and Harvard Business School (MBA).

Cameron Nicol is the Marketing Director for Nasdaq Private Fund Solutions, a technology-enabled ecosystem of data, performance analytics and fund secondaries solutions for GPs and LPs. In his role, Cameron leads marketing strategy, communications and content, working closely with industry participants and partners. Cameron has worked in the private markets technology space since 2013.

Eric de Montgolfier is Chief Executive Officer of Invest Europe, the association representing Europe’s private equity, venture capital and infrastructure sectors and their investors. He was previously CEO of Gimv France, a division of the Brussels-listed mid-market investment firm, where he oversaw strategy and investments in the French market. Prior to that, he was co-founder and co-managing partner of Edmond de Rothschild Partners, active in the lower mid-market segment in France. He started his private equity career in 1990 at Astorg - where he subsequently became a co- founding partner of Astorg Partners. He holds a Masters in management from ESCP in Paris.

Mr. Hollender is Co-Head of Private Equity at Flossbach von Storch AG and Managing Director at FvS Alternative Solutions GmbH. He serves on the FvS Private Equity Investment Committee and oversees the Venture Capital and Growth Equity investment activities. He has 20 years of investment experience and sits on several Limited Partners Advisory Committees. Mr. Hollender holds a joint Master´s degree in Business Administration and Electrical Engineering from Darmstadt University of Technology.

Reinhard Vogt brings a wealth of industry knowledge and technology deal-side expertise to Dynamk Capital. He is instrumental in differentiating Dynamk by providing portfolio companies valuable guidance in all areas of commercialization as well as positioning for exit. Prior to joining Dynamk, he was the Executive VP and Member of the Board of Sartorius Stedim Biotech S.A, a leading international partner to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, providing critical solutions for research, development and manufacturing. He was instrumental in building and transforming their filtration business from $30 million in the 90s, to what is now today the Sartorius Bioprocess Business of around $1.2 billion. He served as Executive VP and Member of the Board of Sartorius AG for over 10 years and has served as Director of 15 companies and Sartorius affiliates in his career.

Nikolas Samios is Managing Partner of PropTech1 Ventures, the first dedicated venture capital fund addressing the untapped potential of real estate industry innovation in Europe, bringing together leading real estate companies and entrepreneurs, serial entrepreneurs from the digital sector, and venture capital experts. In this role as well as his previous entrepreneurial activities, e.g. as Managing Partner of the VC family office COOPERATIVA and as Managing Director of Brandenburg Ventures, the VC vehicle of MP3 inventor Karlheinz Brandenburg, he has participated in more than 100 transactions on both sides of the table. Nikolas is a proven expert in venture capital methodology with publications such as the standard reference book DEALTERMS.VC and various professional articles.

Volker Wende is Partner with SwanCap Partners, a leading independent private markets investment platform with offices in Munich, Luxembourg, Milan and New York. Volker is part of the global investment team and co-heading the firm’s direct co-investment programme which looks back at 100+ investments at an aggregated deal value in excess of €250 billion. Prior to SwanCap, Volker was advising private equity and corporate clients on mergers & acquisitions working with UniCredit and goetzpartners out of their offices in London and Munich. Volker graduated as Dipl.-Kaufmann (MBA equivalent) from the University of Regensburg.

Andreas Fendel is a Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Quadriga Capital. Quadriga Capital is a leading midcap private equity advisory firm targeting the DACH region and neighbouring countries. Funds advised by the firm have completed more than 150 transactions during the last 20 years. Main activities relate to the core sectors smart industries, services/software and healthcare. It creates value by supporting management teams in transforming and growing businesses – organically and in form of buy-and-builds. Typical transaction volumes range between € 50 million and € 300 million. Transaction examples: AHT Austria Haustechnik, Jack Wolfskin, LR Health & Beauty, Lewa, M&R Automation, DoreaFamilie, GBA, wecare etc.

Vishal is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of the Valkin Group which is a single family office focused on Private equity investments, Venture Capital and International Trade. Vishal is an experienced entrepreneur with multiple company exits. He has over 20 years experience in fashion, media, real estate and private equity. He has a broad based of expertise in entrepreneurship, operations, finance and business development. Vishal was the founder of Elite Models in London. He founded Elite Models in the UK which is part of the €200 million public listed Elite World Group. The Valkin Group is a also a holding company with majority and minority stakes in various companies (including both public listed and private) across different industries from consumer goods to trade finance globally.

Piotr is an investment director at 3TS Capital Partners, one of the leading European technology focused private equity and venture capital firms. 3TS provides expansion capital for companies in growth sectors including Technology & Internet, Media & Communications and Technology-Enabled Services. Piotr serves on the board of directors of multiple portfolio companies in marketing automation, advertising technologies, digital-health and e-commerce space. He enjoys working closely with the founders to develop sustainable and scalable high-growth business models.

Rudi is a Partner at Zetland and a member of the Investment Committee. Rudi leads all investments in corporates for Zetland, focusing on mid-market special situations in Europe. Zetland Capital is a London based private equity firm with over EUR 800m of assets under management. The firm invests across Europe, leveraging decades of investing experience, a unique skillset and flexible capital solutions to bring about better outcomes for businesses, asset owners and the wider community. Zetland is currently raising its second fund.

Founder of MCI, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer. Entrepreneur since 1985. For the past 20 years, Venture Capital/Private Equity investor, founder and Group Managing Partner @ MCI Capital - one of the leading European private equity groups with focus on technology and digitalization. In 1990-1998 Co-founder and CEO of JTT Computer SA - leading CE computer manufacturer with USD 100M+ revenue. Selected as one of Top-20 best Polish managers in 2015 by Bloomberg Business Week. Guest speaker at many PE/VC conferences, including NOAH, Websummit. Supervisory board member and advisory board member of many of MCI funds portfolio companies across Europe. In 2001 the World Economic Forum awarded Tomasz Czechowicz with the title of Global Leader for Tomorrow for his exceptional feeling for the market, professionalism, vision and business efficacy. In 2000 one of the TOP-10 most influential people in the European Internet by Business Week. MBA holder from Warsaw School of Economics and Univeristy of Minnesota.

John is CIO of Beechbrook Ireland and an Investment Committee Member. He Joined Beechbrook in 2018. Previously John was Senior Vice-President at Enterprise Ireland. John Co-Managed Enterprise Ireland’s Direct Equity Fund, responsible for Series A, B, C investments and Private Equity and Private Debt investments in Irish, UK and US based SME’s, including origination, follow on, co-invests and completing 100 plus exits.

Rajaa Mekouar-Schneider is the Head of PE for a prominent Luxembourg single family office. Her PE roles included General Partner (GP) positions at VC / PE funds Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Lazard European Private Equity Partners and Change Capital Partners in London. Between 2008 and 2016, Rajaa was the founding director of Maera Capital, a boutique dedicated to co-investing with family offices. Most recently she was the Head of Syndicate at family-backed co-investment platform, Kharis Capital, in Luxembourg. She is a graduate of HEC Grande Ecole in France and holds an MBA from INSEAD. She speaks French, English, German, Spanish and Arabic.

Michael Szalontay is a managing partner of Flashpoint, renowned for their successful ventures like Chess.com, Shazam, Guesty, ChiliPiper, ivi, OfficeRnD and others. Flashpoint is headquartered in London with offices located in Budapest, Warsaw, Tel Aviv and Riga. Michael started his career in PwC, before moving to investment banking with Renaissance Group, one of the top banks in Russia & CIS, and then moved on to private equity, in both cases dealing with media, tech & telecom transactions. Using a data-driven approach, Flashpoint funds look for innovative companies in the fields of e-commerce services, Online Media, Mobile Internet, Communitainment & SaaS currently focusing on investment opportunities on seed and round A level.

Stephan is a Partner at Ventech (Europe) with close to a decade of Venture Capital experience. Beside working on investments in constantly evolving trend focus areas such as currently: Product Led Growth, Vertical A.I. and API-First driven businesses, he also leading the funds development & integrated processes on data-driven opportunity sourcing for the last 5 years. Ventech is a global, early-stage venture capital firm focused on accelerating digital disruption by partnering with daring entrepreneurs from day one through to multibillion-dollar exit. With its dual structure platform, Ventech manages €700m with dedicated funds for Europe, with offices in Paris, Munich, Berlin & Helsinki, and Asia, across locations in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Since its founding in 1998, Ventech has made more than 200 investments and over 90 exits, including 20+ IPOs on the Euronext & NASDAQ exchanges.

Thomas is a Partner at Isomer Capital, a leading investment company in the European VC sector. Being an LP in over 40 VC funds and invested directly in some of the fastest growing companies in Europe, Isomer has developed through the years a successful approach delivering returns and strategic value to investors. Thomas has over 17 years of experience in the asset management industry. He was previously responsible for Russell Investments Southern Europe operations. Fluent in French, Italian and English, Thomas likes to travel and climbing in the Alps.

Marek is a partner, member of the Board of Directors and of the Investment Committee in Jet Investment, a Central European private equity investment company that has been detecting investment opportunities in medium-sized manufacturing companies for more than 20 years. Along with his associates, he has successfully restructured or reorganised over 28 businesses and has been behind the first and largest court reorganisations of manufacturing companies in the Czech Republic. Over the past four years, Jet Investment has accumulated a capital of EUR 280 million for private equity investment through its funds, which are opened only to qualified investors and are subject to Czech National Bank regulation. Marek takes part in managing all the companies in the Jet Fund's portfolio as an active board member, the kernel of his mission is to oversee acquisitions, management of investment projects and their exits. Previously, as a Group CEO and Board Chairman, he was leading the executive management of Kordárna Plus, one of the most successful investment projects of Jet Investment to this day. Marek has been on Jet Investment's team since 2010. He previously worked in Bank Austria Creditanstalt and Deutsche Bank in Prague and London. He is a graduate of Brno University of Technology and Nottingham Trent University.

Jeff Ransdell is a venture capitalist building a portfolio of exponential technology companies at South Florida-based Fuel Venture Capital, which he founded in 2017 following his departure from the world of wealth management. Jeff approaches venture capital with a signature “founder focused, investor driven” mindset, shaped by two decades as a top executive of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. As a managing director and market executive of the financial powerhouse, he managed more than $130 billion of global private client investment assets, a P&L of $2 billion, and over 2,000 employees across the bank’s Southeast Wealth Management Division. His transition to venture capital was motivated by what he saw as mounting evidence that opportunities to shape the economy and capitalize on innovation were steadily shifting from the public markets to the private markets. In the face of much skepticism, Jeff chose Miami, Florida, as the homebase for Fuel Venture Capital, armed with an unparalleled rolodex and emboldened to leverage the city’s untapped resources and advantages. Today, Fuel Venture Capital manages a $200 million fund and has a portfolio of 25 companies, including Terran Orbital, Soundtrack Your Brand and Taxfyle.

Jiri Krol joined AIMA in April 2010, was appointed Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs in April 2011 and in May 2013 became Deputy CEO. Prior to joining AIMA, he worked at the European Commission, where he was responsible for the coordination of the Commission’s policy towards the Financial Stability Board and the G20. Jiri started his career at the Czech securities market regulator. He then moved to the European Commission’s Internal Market Directorate-General, where he was responsible for the drafting and negotiation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) implementing measures. While at the Commission, he also worked on the Non-Equity Market Transparency and the Commodity Derivatives reviews. Previously, Jiri was appointed Financial Markets Policy Director in the Czech Ministry of Finance in 2007. In 2009, he led the Czech European Union Presidency’s work in the area of financial services, which involved finalising the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD II) and the Solvency II Directive as well as the Credit Rating Agencies regulation negotiations. He studied international relations, economics and politics at Tufts University, London School of Economics and Sciences Po.

Véronique Jacq serves as manager of Digital Venture activity at Bpifrance Investissement. She has been an investor in Venture Capital for over 14 years. She initiated the Venture Capital (VC) activity in 2011 with the first generation of “Ambition Numérique” fund, a Series A & B VC fund focused on digital sectors. The scope was extended to Seed stage in 2016 with the launching of “F3A” fund focused on very early stage investments alongside business angels. With €750m under management, the Digital Venture activity backed +90 companies and had +20 exits since 2011 (Wallix, Teads, Balyo, Recommerce, Netatmo, MeilleursAgents, EasyRecrue, Lengow, Neotys, Talentsoft...). Before joining Bpifrance, she held different positions in audit, finance and investment activities (Anvar, French Audit Office, CDC Entreprises). She started her career at the Nuclear Safety Authority. She graduated from Mines ParisTech and Corps des Mines.

Per Nordlander works as a Partner at Verdane, the Northern European specialist growth equity investor. He has extensive experience as an entrepreneur and as a manager in the financial services and technology sectors. Per was the founder and CEO of the two leading online brokerage houses in Scandinavia, Avanza and Nordnet, both listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. He also serves as a board member of Swedish insurance company Skandia since June 2014. Per combines his entrepreneurial background with professional experience in corporate restructuring, management, and consulting from Nasdaq, Accenture, and the investment bank Öhman Securities, where he was an analyst. Education: Per holds an MSc in Engineering Physics and Computer Science from Uppsala University (Sweden) and University of Berlin (Germany), and is a graduate of the Stockholm School of Economics Advanced Management Program.

Stéphanie is committed to making a better world for the environment and for the people. She has a strong background in investing, strategy, business development and innovation, supporting fast-growing start-ups and SMEs in their development. She is currently Partner at Demeter, a leading management company focused on investing in the ecological and energy transition sectors. She is in charge of Paris Green Fund, a €160M growth fund to accelerate the ecological transition in large cities, investing from €5M to €15M in SMEs in sectors such as Sustainable buildings, Sustainable mobility, New energies, Circular economy and Air quality. Stéphanie is also Chief Impact and Sustainability at Demeter. Before Demeter, she joined Roland Berger strategy consulting firm in the Digital / IoT / AI Practice. Stéphanie is very committed to promoting gender diversity, diversity, and empowerment.

Barbara is actively involved in all aspects of portfolio management, including all investment due diligence and decision-making processes. Barbara joined Knightsbridge after spending more than twenty years as a venture capitalist, holding partner positions with both Charles River Ventures and Schroder Ventures. As General Partner of Charles River Ventures from 1986 to 1992, Barbara was responsible for a successful portfolio of health care, technology, and consumer companies and served on the board of several companies. From 1992 to 1999, she invested with a life sciences focus as a Partner of Schroder Ventures, co-founding the SV Life Sciences funds and serving on the boards of eight companies. From 2000 to 2006, she was President of Blackwood Capital, investing in and advising private and public companies. Barbara received an MBA with honors from Harvard Business School and holds a BS summa cum laude from Boston College where she graduated first in her class. She is a member of the Massachusetts Women's Forum, previously served on the board of the Koch Center for Cancer Research at MIT, and is involved with several non-profit entities.

Daniel has a background in engineering and a PhD in Chemistry. He enjoys early-stage investing in engineering breakthroughs that help change the world for the better. His main areas of interest are within Artificial Intelligence, Industrial Technology, Deeptech (including space and electronics), and Material Sciences. In his spare time Daniel reads, writes code, and builds electronics. Daniel joined IQ Capital in 2019 and has deep-tech venture capital experience from several funds.

Lisya Bahar Manoah is the Senior Partner at Catalyst Fund, an Israel-based Private Equity founded in 1999 and focusing on investments in growth-to late stage high-tech companies. Lisya has over 15 years of investment and management experience in private equity and global leading corporations, in particular in the context of raising capital, M&A transactions, and post-merger integration. Lisya invests in diversified technologies including smart mobility, ad-tech, fin-tech, life-science, SaaS, e-commerce, cyber-security, Industry 4-0, agro/food-tech. She has previously led the operational due diligence prior to the acquisition of Keter Group by BC Partners and managed post acquisition integration. Prior to Keter, Lisya held management positions in the one of the world's leading crop protection companies, ADAMA. Lisya has a multicultural background speaking fluent English, Hebrew, German and Turkish. She earned an MBA from Tel Aviv University, M.Sc from Vienna University of Technology and Harvard executive and selected 40under40 in Israel for 2020.

Björn Loose is Principal at Cavalry Ventures. Cavalry Ventures is a European early-stage venture capital fund focusing on pre-seed and seed stages. With the launch of its second fund generation in 2019, Cavalry Ventures manages a total volume of EUR 120+ million. Björn joined the firm’s inception in early 2016 after launching entrepreneurial side projects himself and supporting founding teams in their early days. Being an engineer himself, Björn draws on his interdisciplinary knowledge to support companies in a variety of different industries such as construction, healthcare or procurement. At Cavalry, he is also responsible for initiatives around societal challenges such as fostering diversity in the VC ecosystem. He regularly acts as an active mentor to young talent.

Co-CEO & Co-founder in SolidBlock Founder of Women in Block, association increasing opportunities for women in the blockchain sector. We do monthly events with hundreds of women in total, invite global influencers, like Ivan on Tech, partner with the largest blockchain companies, and provide speakers for conferences. Creator of global femfluencer list for the blockchain and crypto sector Founder of Top of Blockchain, connecting global projects with blockchain technologies Advisor to TerraMaal, implementing blockchain technology in a greenfield & cashless economy, creating land and person registry, as well as a remittance payments network, in Somaliland, Africa Mentor for several accelerators and startups Partner & Board Advisor at the Israeli Blockchain Association Listed in Top 25 Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Speakers and 100 Most Inspirational Women In Blockchain.

With over fifteen years’ experience in the basic and applied sciences, Bartosz Wawrzynów is a senior researcher with a demonstrated history of working in the biotech industry. He possesses strong research background in Life Science and STEM sectors - Big Data Statistical Analysis, Bioinformatics, Proteome Chemistry, Fluorescence Confocal Imaging, and Genomics. Presently, Bartosz is a Portfolio Manager at FNP Ventures, an investment vehicle of which the principal and sole shareholder is the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP). FNP Ventures operates in a Fund of Funds (FoF) capacity. Adopting a multistage strategy, FNP Ventures is willing to invest in Seed and Round A VC funds focused on Deep Tech, STEM, Life Sciences and Healthcare sectors. Currently FNP Ventures is an active LP in four VC funds encompassing over sixty companies in portfolio support, at the same time providing technological scouting and due diligence support in the deal flow pipelines of said VCs. In parallel Bartosz is a Scientific Consultant at Caspar Asset Management, an agile, lean Hedge Fund directed to HNWI and Institutional Investors who wish to invest globally with a tailored diversified portfolio. Within Caspar, Bartosz is directly involved in scientific due diligence of Life Science / Biotech/ Medtech – post-IPO, NASDAQ listed companies representing innovative segments, such as: I-O, bi-specifics, CAR-Ts, gene editing. He oversees the portfolio in terms of their R&D pipeline, core science output, FDA Clinical Trial(s) progress, IP portfolio / freedom to operate & partnerships. He is a keen networking builder with the intent of establishing bridges that hold and strengthen knowledge exchange frameworks. An advocate of the notion that start-ups should be perceived as temporary organizations designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.

Conor founded TritonLake in 2015 with a vision for bringing together alternative investment opportunities and ultra-high-net-worth investors. Prior to founding TritonLake, from 1997, Conor was a partner at MoneyMate (subsequently Compliance Solutions Strategies), a technology and services business partnering with global investment and wealth management firms. Conor grew this business through partnerships with senior leaders on both sides of the Atlantic, culminating in the strategic sale of this business to private equity-backed Compliance Solution Strategies. Conor holds an Honours Degree in Engineering from University College Dublin (B.E., 1993), a Higher Diploma (Hons) in International Selling (HDip, 2006), and a Masters in Sales Management (MSc, 2008). Conor holds his Series 7 & 66 licenses.

Julian is the founder of Ginkgo Equity, the first distressed venture capital firm in Europe. He formerly was a startup founder and after exiting worked at a traditional early-stage VC fund backed by SAP founder Hasso Plattner. Julian holds a Master’s in Economics from New York University (NYU). Ginkgo aims to identify startups in special situations that have the potential to be turned into profitable mid-sized companies. Ginkgo acquires and recapitalizes startups typically around a Series B but might enter at other stages on a case-by-case basis.

Rafael is Executive Director & Head of International Investments at TH Capital, a 2bn USD private equity fund originated from Tsinghua University and based in Beijing, investing growth equity into high-growth companies across New-Generation Technologies, High-End Manufacturing and Healthcare. Driving the company’s internationalization, his roles include direct investments of THC in high-growth technology companies outside China as well as developing and executing international buy and build strategies for TH Capital’s Chinese portfolio companies. In July 2021, TH Capital has started to raise its first USD China Growth Fund, which is led by Rafael and his team. Prior to TH Capital, Rafael was an Associate for International Investments at CMIG and has worked in various roles at Roland Berger, Bosch Group and Siemens AG. He holds a Bachelor of Industrial & Systems Engineering and a Bachelor of Management from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and an MBA from Tsinghua University and MIT. Being German, Rafael has spent his last 13 years in China.

Tomas has over fifteen years of corporate finance experience in Central Europe and the CIS. He specializes in turning around companies in trouble, capital restructurings and operational improvements. His background is in financial modeling and valuations. The most notable projects include a re-start of a food retailer in Azerbaijan, restructuring of a metal processing company to enable its growth in the DACH region and a turnaround with operational improvements of a windows producer in Romania. Further, he worked on projects in a broad range of industries, notably retail, distribution, manufacturing, energy and utilities, iron and steel, transport, construction as well as several portfolios of non-performing loans. He currently serves as a director or board member in multiple portfolio companies. Prior to joining EMSA Capital, Tomas worked for the financial advisory practice of Deloitte Central Europe on assignments mostly in Slovakia, Czech Republic and the Balkan countries. Tomas holds a Master’s in International Economics and Business from the University of Groningen (the Netherlands) and a Master’s in Financial Management from Comenius University (Slovakia). He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and a CFA Charterholder.

Daniella Kranjac has been building life sciences businesses, developing and commercializing life sciences products for 20 years. Having co-founded Wave Biotech LLC from her dormitory room, she and a partner drove the start-up, growth and commercialization of a highly disruptive technology. As Vice President of the organization, Daniella established a high growth company with significant brand recognition, and led the group to a successful exit and acquisition by GE Healthcare in 2007. At GE Healthcare, Daniella held a variety of strategic, M&A and business development roles. One of her most notable achievements is the success in an entrepreneurial group within the broader GE Healthcare, where a focus on integrating the acquired Xcellerex business enabled global commercialization of a several hundred million dollar enterprise solutions business. Her extensive business development, negotiations and deal-making experience with multinational biopharma and governments in developed and emerging markets provides Dynamk with a broad network of colleagues, customers, innovators and key opinion leaders. She holds a B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology and an Executive MBA from New York University Stern School of Business and has attended Harvard Business School Executive Education Courses in Private Equity & Venture Capital.

Sebastian is a Founding Partner at First Momentum Ventures. Educated as an industrial engineer and mathematician, he is responsible for the firm’s investments in robotics, energy and fintech. Prior to founding first momentum during his studies at KIT Karlsruhe, Germany, Sebastian co-founded the first student-run incubator in the country that became the breeding ground for more than 20 startups creating more than 1,000 jobs and raised capital in excess of 250 m€. Furthermore, he acts as an advisor on innovation financing to the German Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation. First Momentum Ventures is a Germany-based VC dedicated to pre-seed, investing in deep tech, software and B2B in the DACH region. With their maiden fund, started as the first student-run VC in the region in 2019, First Momentum built one of the best performing pre-seed portfolios in Europe with 22 investments to date. Its investments includes areas such as robotics, HR, logistics, engineering, advanced materials, high performance computing and fintech. The firm established a unique ambassador network in universitie cities across DACH with more than 75 members, adding to its venture sourcing activities.

James is founder and managing partner at Opera Investment Partners AG in Zürich, a specialist private equity fund of funds focused on emerging manager funds and co-investments. James was previously managing partner at Clearsight Investments AG, a fund of funds dedicated to turnaround and operational strategies in Europe. James holds degrees from Newcastle University, Lancaster University Management School and the University of St Gallen. Opera are investing their first institutional fund with capital coming from the founding team as well as US and European foundations, pensions and family offices. Opera has the goal to invest alongside European managers focused on inefficient markets executing high-alpha, operational strategies. Opera looks for process-orientated managers creating value from transactional complexity and KPI-driven operational improvement.

Diana Rucinschi is investment advisor at EIC Fund. EIC Fund is the venture arm of the European Innovation Council and has a budget of 3,5 bln EUR. The Fund is sector agnostic and invests tickets ranging between 0,5 – 15 mil EUR in start-ups and SMEs with a focus on market-creating innovations, and high scale-up potential, whether based on breakthrough disruptive technologies originating from research (deep-tech) or on social innovation, addressing large markets, pressing societal needs and EU priorities. Besides providing capital, EIC Fund supports companies with access to business acceleration services, connecting them with coaches, corporates, investors, procurers and other stakeholders in Europe and become more sustainable. The Fund has already more than 140 companies in portfolio from pilot version and it will soon add the first cohort from Horizon Europe calls. One of the important objectives of the Fund is crowding in investors in Europe, thus in her role, Diana is involved in building the trusted community of investors around it and connecting them with companies in portfolio. Furthermore, she has a portfolio of biotech engineering and AI companies. Prior to this, Diana worked with the investors and companies in a similar position under business acceleration services and as project officer on SME Instrument - managing a portfolio of high tech companies, supporting them to grow and scale-up and earlier to it, Diana worked on several EU programmes (Eco-Innovation, Marco Polo etc) in the field of financial services and in a previous life she was a journalist on written media in Romania. Diana has an educational background in Economics and European Economic Integration, she followed several training on VC and PE and she is part of the second cohort of Newton Venture program.

Elliot Bradbrook joined Preqin in 2008 and managed its infrastructure-related research and data activities for 5 years before overseeing the company’s intelligence on the global institutional investor (LP) community from 2016. He now directs Preqin’s research, data operations and strategy for the EMEA region across its suite of alternative asset platforms and data verticals. Preqin initiates, manages and develops relationships with LPs and GPs as well as conducts extensive secondary market research to ensure a flow of quality data and intelligence to over 90k clients worldwide. Elliot holds a first-class honours degree in History and Communications from the University of Akron in Ohio, US.

Lucanus is the Founder and Managing Partner of Calm/Storm Ventures, a founder network and boutique venture capital firm based in Vienna, Austria. Prior to founding his own fund he was a General Partner at Speedinvest where he personally led investments focused on digital health companies including Playbrush, Ourpath, or Diagnosia. Before his time at Speedinvest, Lucanus was managing director of whatchado.com a portfolio company of Hansi Hansmann's "hansmengroup". Lucanus holds Master degrees in Entrepreneurship (WU Vienna) and International Management (CEMS). He is passionate about supporting founders with purpose who try to solve problems that really matter by leveraging his nearly 20 years of experience in business & corporate development. As a passionate sailor and father of 3, you'll find Lucanus spending his spare time with his kids on a boat.

Sebastian Waldburg is responsible for overall operations and investments at Oryx Impact. He is a seasoned impact investor with significant experience in climate finance and venture capital. He has more than 25 years in the financial sector related to energy investments and private equity, with relevant exposure to emerging markets. Experienced team leader and entrepreneur having co-founded SI Capital, one of the pioneer climate finance VCs in Europe Oryx Impact The Oryx Impact Fund seeks investments via African private equity, venture capital and debt funds as well as segregated mandates and direct co-investments into companies with a concrete impact focus on at least one of our three core outcome areas, and that are best positioned to bring about the Fund’s intended financial returns. The outcome areas address the overarching goal of Oryx Impact, which is to reduce existing global inequalities and help alleviate forced migration. They furthermore align closely with multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals. Additional objective of the Oryx Impact Fund is for the ecosystem of fund managers investing in the target regions to improve their ESG practices during the investment period, with a focus on their environmental impact objectives (including carbon footprint and energy efficiency) and their anti-discrimination and governance policies (with a specific focus on gender equality).

Marko Maschek combines engineering education with entrepreneurial acumen. He grew up near Stuttgart and was an employee in the family-owned company during his school days. After his military service, he worked in consulting and software development patenting several developments in automotive applications. Marko has been a VC- / PE- an investor in Germany and the US since 1997 and co-founded Pinova and Marondo. He has been responsible for nearly 30 technology companies where some achieved a successful IPO. Marko earned a degree in electrical engineering from KIT, an advanced degree in computer sciences from INSA (Lyon) and an MBA from Cambridge.

Bill Liao is a Chinese-Australian-Irish entrepreneur, investor, diplomat, business mentor, author, passionate leader and speaker, with a distinguished record in business development and community activism. Co-founder of the CoderDojo movement and of Weforest, his career in tech and business encompasses two unicorn companies and launching the world’s first bio-tech accelerator, RebelBio. He is a general partner of SOSV, a $750m venture capital fund and founder of the upcoming SOSV Momentum Pre-accelerator program.

Ruxandra Pietreanu is the Managing Partner of Path-Finder Corporate Finance - a leading independent corporate finance boutique in Romania. Ruxandra is a professional with 20+ years of experience and more than 50 attended transactions in the M&A field, as well as in capital and debt raising. She has been involved in a large number of projects – covering M&A, capital raising, debt raising, financial & operational restructurings and turnaround situations – serving small, midsize and large companies with turnover between EUR 500,000 and EUR 500,000,000. With the aim to support the growth of entrepreneurial companies by attracting capital, Path-Finder recently launched Path2Capital , a platform that connects financial investors with suitable SEE companies looking for capital and supports the parties to close deals in a smooth and time-saving manner

Anupum is an Executive Director at Capital Square Partners (“CSP”) in Singapore. He is responsible for leading key growth initiatives on behalf of the firm, including a new Impact & ESG strategy, and works closely with the Singapore-based team. In addition, he assists CSP’s portfolio companies on their Corporate Development initiatives alongside its C-Suite and executive management team. Anupum has a variety of deal exposure to various sectors including technology, logistics, hospitals and healthcare, hospitality and consumer, and education primarily across Asia including Southeast Asia and India, the United States, and Europe. Anupum joined CSP after having spent nearly a decade in private equity and venture capital in Asia and Southeast Asia representing approximately $400mm in total deal value and brings 17 years of prior investment and advisory experience to CSP. He has led and co-led investment expansion into Vietnam, India, and France while supporting origination and portfolio management in Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. Anupum is routinely invited as a guest speaker at conferences and seminars, and provides thought leadership on a variety of topics within the investment community. Current and past board memberships include the Oxford & Cambridge Society of Singapore, the Yale Club of Singapore, and the Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association. Anupum is a graduate of Berkeley, Oxford, and Yale.

Katalin Gallyas is the Managing Partner of c*funds, an Amsterdam based global funds placement agency founded in 2018 and focuses on raising capital for alternative investment funds with a typical fund size between €50m – €750m. Katalin has over 15 years experience as a fund placement agent and previous institutional fundraiser. c*funds was founded with the aim to disrupt the traditional “old-boys network” Private Equity industry with a fresh and highly transactional model. We represent a self-made, truly entrepreneurial approach in fund placements. c*funds work with 500 LP's all over the world and our GP's are also from a wide global coverage (NY to New Zealand to Luxembourg). Gender and ethnic diversity are a key asset (5 female, 2 male, 5 nationalities). Within a very short period, we have rapidly grown both in new fundraising mandates, increasing the number of warm LP relations and new talents recruited.

Maggie looks after client relationships for Bridges’ platform of funds and has been involved with or led the raising of the firm’s eight most recent funds. These have included successive funds in existing strategies as well as the development of new strategies to the Bridges platform. Before her current role in Client & Strategy Development, Maggie spent her first five years as a member of the investment team of the Bridges Sustainable Growth Funds and worked on a number of investments in the sustainable living theme, including the successful exit of Whelan Refining. Prior to joining Bridges, Maggie worked at London-based Climate Change Capital, a specialist merchant bank in the environmental markets. She started her career as a strategy management consultant with McKinsey & Co in New York City. Maggie studied environmental science and public policy at Harvard University and has an MBA from Columbia Business School. Maggie currently sits on the BVCA Advisory Group on Impact Investment and on the Working Group on Re-visioning Social Investment as part of the UK National Advisory Board on Impact Investing. She is a frequent speaker on the topics of sustainable and impact investment and the private markets industry.

Cansu is Senior Partner at Bethnal Green Ventures, Europe’s leading early-stage tech for good VC, where she leads on fundraising for their investment vehicles. Previously, she was with the global accelerator Startupbootcamp, first building their MENA branch in conjunction with a micro-fund in Istanbul, then scaling their industrial IoT program to London and running it. She has been in the tech industry as a founder, operator, and early-stage investor for a decade. Her background is in international politics and human rights law, before going into investment she worked with IGOs and NGOs like Amnesty International, the Council of Europe, and the UN in Turkey and France. Currently based in London, she is an ambassador for the UK Government’s Tier 1 Tech Nation Exceptional Talent scheme.